


I've wanted to do that for years

by softgrungeprophet



Category: Fantastic Four (Comicverse)
Genre: Comic Book Science, Fluff, Friendship/Love, Kissing, M/M, Power gain, Touchy-Feely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-27 00:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20398351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/softgrungeprophet/pseuds/softgrungeprophet
Summary: Johnny felt the heat flare up the back of his neck and across his face, a lick of bright candle-flame curling up and dissipating into the air, reflected in Wyatt's eyes-Wyatt and Johnny get blasted with cosmic song-wind and notice some slight changes....





	I've wanted to do that for years

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cannibal_Wings](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cannibal_Wings/gifts).

“WYATT!”

This couldn’t happen.

Johnny knew Wyatt was willing to die for him and he for Wyatt, but it couldn’t—

He couldn’t think on it. Actions first. Past the barrage of light and heat and cosmic song, flaming—his own ray of light leaving a streaming comet’s tail behind him, nothing on his mind for his own safety or for planning or anything just…

“Wyatt!”

Buffeted by solar winds like a sandstorm or a rush of water, hunched over, aglow and sparkling—and Johnny’s own flame-trail twisting and spinning out into loops of sun-blown ribbon and smoke behind him.

“Wyatt—”

Johnny pulled him to his feet, against the flow… Wyatt's fingers dug into Johnny's shoulder, until he got one arm slung around him. They held each other up, shielding each other. Not that Johnny could do much to shield such a large man, but he could try.

“Johnny.” Not heard so much as seen in the movement of his lips—

Wyatt’s dark eyes glistened with something… new. In the whipping light-wind and humming music of the universe, even his hair—so impeccably gelled—strayed from its confines. His shirt plastered against his skin from the force of the light/sound/cosmos—

He wasn’t hurt.

Together, they took one step, and another.

Johnny didn't weigh as much as Wyatt; he wasn't as solid, and he didn't have super-strength... But they moved carefully together through the raging star-storm, half-blinded by all the colors and lights, fireworks blooming against the black of Johnny's eyelids when he closed them tight. But he could still feel Wyatt's arm heavy across his narrow shoulders, anchoring him.

It felt like hours...

Everyone else... caught up in their fight, surely confident that the Human Torch could handle celestial energy—and they were right, he supposed. They were right.

He could feel it building up, though, already. Filling him up with heat, pressure.

A few seconds—

He pulled himself away from Wyatt, almost shoving his arm off—

He shot into the sky in a streak, reaching the apex of his arc and letting out a hot burst before sweeping downward.

He stumbled into Wyatt's arms at the edge of the stream, a few trace flames licking at his face.

"John." He could hear him now, outside of the current. "Johnny, are you alright?"

Shouldn't Johnny be asking Wyatt the same?!

Distantly, he could also hear Ben shouting, Sue's voice—

"Johnny!!" Sue materialized as she ran, weaving into visibility down her body and moving for a hug before flinching, stopping just short, pulling back slightly.

"Johnny, you're on fire."

He frowned, with Wyatt's hands on his shoulders and Sue taking a step away from them. He looked down at himself—and how hadn't he noticed? How he shimmered with dim indigo flame, swirling across his arm after he thought he had flamed off. Across his uniform, but... When he tugged one glove off, it moved across his bare skin just like any of his normal fire would. Not some residue on the fabric of his suit. Part of him, as always. He looked back up to Susan, and her eyes caught his before flicking, briefly, to Wyatt.

Johnny looked at him too. At Wyatt.

Wyatt, with his hands on Johnny.

One hand, he reached up to Johnny's face, cupping his jaw with deep thought in his eyes. Transfixing Johnny, holding his gaze.

"Y—You're..." Johnny broke eye contact, raising his own un-gloved hand to Wyatt's. Cool blue fire flickering around his skin. "You're touching me."

For a moment, Wyatt said nothing, inscrutable.

Then... "I am."

He pulled his hand away and just for the briefest second that spot on Johnny's cheek was slightly cool, before returning to the smooth warmth of the rest of his body.

"I-I—" Johnny looked at his own open palm. "Am I—" He laughed, bubbling up in this kind of overwhelmed, nervous, relieved rush. "Am I still good-looking?"

Sue rolled her eyes with a huff.

But Wyatt...

Wyatt's voice was quiet, and soft as he took Johnny's shoulders in his hands, firmly, the fire curling around his fingers.

"You're beautiful like this."

Johnny felt the heat flare up the back of his neck and across his face, a lick of bright candle-flame curling up and dissipating into the air, reflected in Wyatt's eyes. He looked away, caught Sue's stare again—she was making the strangest face, somewhere between awkward, amused, mortified, uncertain...

"I—" He started.

"Um—" She gestured over her shoulder to where Reed and Ben seemed to be in some deep discussion or perhaps dying-down argument (like always). "I'm gonna go see if they've figured out how to fix this."

Before Johnny could say much of anything in response, she was off. They watched her a moment—how Reed wrapped his arm around her in coils, pulling her against his side without even a thought.

Johnny looked down at his own shoulder. At Wyatt's big, broad hand and the deep, dim blue flames seeping between his fingers, lapping against his skin.

Wyatt let him go and for a moment his shoulder seemed to smolder before slowly reigniting into that dark, soft blue. He looked at Wyatt again—realized he was grinning when Wyatt smiled back at him.

"This is crazy." Johnny reached for Wyatt's arm.

Wyatt laughed, and tugged him in close for a bear hug, huge and strong and rumbling with mirth.

"This is amazing!" He lifted Johnny, like he always did, and Johnny clung to him, laughing too, his legs locked around Wyatt's waist as Wyatt spun them in a circle that left a gentle wisp of heat shimmer in their wake.

***

"Fascinating."

Wyatt sat patiently on the examination table as Reed inspected the samples he'd taken.

"Would you grab onto that heating element again? I'd like to get as large of a sample to work with as possible."

Somewhat amused, Wyatt obliged, wrapping his fingers around the metal tubing as Reed fiddled with his machinery. Glowing brighter, red-hot and more; almost in a flash, so brief it was. Wyatt found himself only mildly bothered by it, a bit sweaty in the palms but no more than after a long run.

"How many degrees was that?" Johnny rocked on the balls of his feet, careful not to touch anything with his dimly glowing body.

Reed paused, as he prepared to collect the slick residue that Wyatt's skin had left behind on the heating element. He tilted his head, neck curving a little more than a regular human's. "Just over 1000 degrees Celsius, around 2000 Fahrenheit."

Off to the side, Ben let out a low whistle.

"Goodness!" That was Sue, sitting with him.

Wyatt himself raised his eyebrows, and quietly said, "I suppose I won't have to worry about burning my tongue at breakfast anymore, then."

Reed laughed. "Quite so." He brought his second sample over to the first, carefully, as he continued. "Though I should warn you, we have no idea whether the effects are temporary or not. I'd advise against any recklessness, on the off chance your powers wear off."

"I see..." Wyatt glanced at Johnny. "And that goes for Johnny's new... development, as well, Mr. Richards?"

"Please, Wyatt, you know you can call me by my first name." Reed peered down at his samples. "But yes, if your powers wind up disappearing, I imagine this phase of Johnny's will as well, God willing."

"I see, Mr. Richards."

Reed shot him a look, amused but exasperated—Wyatt smiled, eyes playful.

"So..." Wyatt slid off of the table, sticking his thumbs in his pockets. "How hot does Johnny burn?"

A thoughtful noise, from Reed, as he considered the question. "Well," He set his things aside. "I've done some measurements and normally he averages just about 900 degrees Fahrenheit." He reached his arm out for something, coiling and twisting between the occasional obstacle as he spoke. "We ran a few tests a while back and when he burns whiter and hotter he gets closer to 3000 at the skin." He looked down at his samples, considering them. "A moment ago... Would you say 2000 was uncomfortable, Wyatt? When you touched the element."

"Oh, I..." Wyatt frowned down at the ceramic flooring a moment, as he thought. "Not exactly." He looked over at Johnny, the blond still shuffling awkwardly as he tried not to touch anything, with his arms crossed over his chest and his feet close together, bouncing a little, glimmering with soft blue heat. "It was more like... being in the sun on a hot day... Sweaty palms, mostly."

Reed nodded. "Interesting." He slotted one of his samples into the bed of his microscope with a snap. "Well, if you'll excuse me..."

"Of course."

Wyatt caught Johnny's eye, and nodded toward the exit.

***

"You look like a mirage." Wyatt knocked Johnny's chin with a smile, tilting his head up. "Reed said you're only around 700 like this." 

Johnny nodded, uncharacteristically quiet. In the darkness of the night, on the roof of the Baxter building, he emitted the dimmest blue glow, barely as bright as a glow-in-the-dark toy, as currents of slightly brighter blue wisped over his skin and curled off of the top of his head and shoulders in soft pinkish orange tongues. A little hotter than before, but still cool.

He looked out over the lights of the city, with his legs between the industrial steel of the roof's railings. Leaned his forehead against one of the cool pillars. "I-I feel different..."

Wyatt hummed. "So do I."

Quietly, Johnny laughed, ducking his head a little, a lick of orange curling up the back of his neck. "I'd be shocked if you didn't!" He mellowed, and settled his eyes on Wyatt—they burned an unearthly blue, beautiful. "Is—is different... bad?"

Bad...?

"No, not at all." Wyatt reached out to take Johnny's shoulder. He hesitated, but smoothed his hand across Johnny's back, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. He'd never felt shy about touching Johnny before, but suddenly... "I've always wondered what you felt like, with the flames."

Johnny leaned his head against Wyatt's shoulder.

"Really...?" His voice was distant and dreamy.

"Really." Wyatt smiled. It felt so natural, to rest his cheek against the top of Johnny's flame-haloed head, his hair still soft on Wyatt's skin even through the sheer layer of gel protecting him from the fire. "I've always wanted to touch you like this."

Johnny uttered a soft "Oh..."

Wyatt shifted, raising his other hand to Johnny's face as Johnny tried to follow his movement with a curious noise—

He stilled, when Wyatt kissed him. Just soft, and brief. Wyatt half expected Johnny to have chapped lips but, of course not. Johnny would never let that happen. He pulled back just a breath to look at Johnny, their noses brushing... He smiled, and pressed their foreheads together.

"I've wanted to do that for years..."

Johnny didn't answer, at first. His fire had brightened, still mostly cool but with coppery pink rising from his shoulders and around his head, eyes piercing blue through it. He breathed, finally, and moved—reached for Wyatt, grabbing his face in slender hands and kissing him hard enough to take Wyatt by surprise and knock him off balance.

With a laugh muffled by Johnny's lips, Wyatt let himself thump onto his back, wrapping his arms around Johnny, who suddenly burned such a bright golden-red Wyatt had to close his eyes. He brought a hand up to the back of Johnny's head as he teased his lips to part—such a strange, alien smoothness, almost like it ought to give under his touch but it remained firm, almost pulsating, as long flames licked up around and between Wyatt's fingers. This was what he'd thought about for years—how this must feel, not quite human.

Wyatt flipped them, pushing Johnny down against the cold, rough rooftop, deepening their kiss.

Johnny whined, and Wyatt laughed, loud and happy.

***

Johnny listened to Wyatt breathe as he slept, his ear pressed to the larger man's chest. Both nude, the scratchy fireproof sheets kicked off, legs tangled up together, Wyatt's hand a solid weight on the small of Johnny's back. A spot of relative coolness where his flames had been dampened, but not doused. Smoldering under Wyatt's touch.

For once, Johnny felt...

Safe?

Not afraid of himself. Not afraid of hurting someone. Not afraid of his own power.

(Not that there wasn't some slim chance he could still catch his room on fire, but everything was so thoroughly sprayed down and treated...)

He lifted one hand, to look at it in the darkness of his bedroom. The calm, deep, indigo curls of low heat brushing across his skin. Dim, dim glow. If he trailed his finger along Wyatt's shoulder, that slick gel appeared almost in an instant, nothing and then there and then not, shielding Wyatt from the heat and the flame. From one of Johnny's worst fears.

Not the fire itself but... the potential for harm.

Johnny slid off of Wyatt, flopping onto his back. He considered getting up, pushing himself onto his elbows—but as he moved, Wyatt moved after him, rolling onto his side with an unconscious sigh to wrap his strong arms around Johnny.

"Well..." Johnny laughed under his breath. "I guess there are worse fates."

He let himself relax into Wyatt's embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> Dunno when this is set, really. I guess in some form of the current timeline
> 
> wyatt and johnny can, should and must kiss. 
> 
> I tried to google what color [cool flames](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cool_flame) are (when actually hot enough to be visible) and I couldn't find shit, and the internet is full of conflicting info about whether the hottest part of a candle flame is the yellow part, the blue part, or the white part where the yellow and blue mix, and blah blah blah but blue is pretty and I decided I like the idea of johnny's temperature stages being, from coolest to hottest:  
dim dark blue (solid body) > yellow/orange (beginning to lose his solid form and turn to plasma core) > red/pink > violet > bright blue/blue-white > white (tfw you are simply energy in the vague shape of a human) that would def make his nova white.
> 
> As for Wyatt's power...  
I like it mostly cause i just liked the idea of someone touching johnny while he was on fire.  
I also suddenly find myself very fond of Johnny/Wyatt so I picked Wyatt XD  
But! it suits Wyatt's personality as a calming presence, a balm... gel does not flow so roughly as water. he thinks before he acts (mostly). he isn't so quick to flip between emotions as johnny or ben, using both his heart and his brain to make decisions about his life.
> 
> GEL! [read about the real version here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_retardant_gel). Obviously Wyatt's is a little more comic book science-y.  
it leaves a slight residue which can be evaporated into presumably a film that remains but when it's on his body it replenishes constantly when in contact with heat above a certain threshold.
> 
> I've decided the power uses its secretions but also water from the environment and from wyatt's own body so if he uses it in hotter, drier flames in... say... the desert of Oklahoma—the more he exerts himself—he'll get dehydrated and need to drink water or find a source of water. It stops working if he gets too dehydrated for it to use his body water without harming him—well. he'd be harmed anyway if he was in a fire. it's probably got a temperature limit though.. high, very hot, but less than 10,000 degrees. I think he can probably absorb water through osmosis too, as his body needs it. so if he got worn down on his power he could hop into a river and rehydrate his body decently. he can probably store more water than a regular human, too, somehow. bet he can drink a gallon now.
> 
> ...  
OH his clothes are still flammable though unless they're very tight. but it won't hurt him if his clothes burn off. we'll just pretend the gel is really good at coating his body hair though. can't burn off the coif.


End file.
